Effect of a 3-Year Lifestyle Intervention in Patients with Chronic Kidney Disease: A Randomized Clinical Trial
Kassia S. Beetham, Rathika Krishnasamy, Tony Stanton, Julian W. Sacre, Bettina Douglas, Nicole M. Isbel, Jeff S. Coombes, Erin J. Howden
Abstract
Background Supervised lifestyle interventions have the potential to significantly improve physical activity and fitness in patients with CKD. Methods To assess the efficacy of a lifestyle intervention in patients with CKD to improve cardiorespiratory fitness and exercise capacity over 36 months, we conducted a randomized clinical trial, enrolling 160 patients with stage 3–4 CKD, with 81 randomized to usual care and 79 to a 3-year lifestyle intervention. The lifestyle intervention comprised care from a multidisciplinary team, including a nephrologist, nurse practitioner, exercise physiologist, dietitian, diabetes educator, psychologist, and social worker. The exercise training component consisted of an 8-week individualized and supervised gym-based exercise intervention followed by 34 months of a predominantly home-based program. Self-reported physical activity (metabolic equivalent of tasks [METs] minutes per week), cardiorespiratory fitness (peak O 2 consumption [VO 2peak ]), exercise capacity (maximum METs and 6-minute walk distance) and neuromuscular fitness (grip strength and get-up-and-go test time) were evaluated at 12, 24, and 36 months. Results The intervention increased the percentage of patients meeting physical activity guideline targets of 500 MET min/wk from 29% at baseline to 63% at 3 years. At 12 months, both VO 2peak and METs increased significantly in the lifestyle intervention group by 9.7% and 30%, respectively, without change in the usual care group. Thereafter, VO 2peak declined to near baseline levels, whereas METs remained elevated in the lifestyle intervention group at 24 and 36 months. After 3 years, the intervention had increased the 6-minute walk distance and blunted declines in the get-up-and-go test time. Conclusions A 3-year lifestyle intervention doubled the percentage of CKD patients meeting physical activity guidelines, improved exercise capacity, and ameliorated losses in neuromuscular and cardiorespiratory fitness.